Intellectual property law is good. Excess in intellectual property law is not. This blog is about excess in Canadian and international copyright law, trademarks law and patent law. I practice IP law with Macera & Jarzyna, LLP in Ottawa, Canada. I've also been in government and academe. My views are purely personal and don't necessarily reflect those of my firm or any of its clients. Nothing on this blog should be taken as legal advice.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

No WIPO Broadcating Treaty Dipcon "This Year"

After two days of essentially in camera meetings going late into the night in Geneva, the news is out that there will be no diplomatic conference on the proposed WIPO broadcasting treaty “this year.”

There were too many diverging opinions. The US, Canada, Switzerland, Brazil and India all opposed a dipcon this year. Of the major industrialized countries, apparently only Japan was clearly bullish on a dipcon at this time.

Is the treaty “dead”? Maybe not. There will be a meeting tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM Geneva time to discuss what to recommend to the General Assembly.

It’s hard to say at this point whether this will be an exercise in face saving or whether this is going to simply go on and on for a lot longer. It has already been going on for almost 10 years.

There is a feeling that something should be done about signal theft, which is a problem in some countries - but the big question is what and how. It appears that there is no consensus on even the most basic of questions after all this time. It would appear to be very questionable as to what progress could result from more meetings. Anyway, we'll know more by tomorrow at this time.